MSI serves up Core i5 within 13-inch X-Slim X360 ultraportable
By Darren Murph 
posted March 9th 2010 5:02AM
posted March 9th 2010 5:02AM
posted March 9th 2010 5:02AM
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With the drop in SSD prices and common TRIM support, I don't know why a slim/compact portable would ever ship without. More durable, lower power draw, and much faster bootup.
@Ducman69 because a 500gb 2.5" hard drive still costs around $100
@Ducman69
Agreed. They could've made this into a much more desirable ultra portable by those suggestions alone. Instead, they skimped, and placed this in the realm of mediocre ultras. Oh well. Maybe a different model number will show itself in time.
@Marko Eh, w/ the interwebs, you don't really need to store your porn collection locally. 60gig is plenty IMO. =)
@Ducman69 Well, I just upgraded my laptop to 500gigs, because my 250g was getting too small! 50g software, 70g work, 100g music - it quickly adds up, and you end up with no room for your pr0n! (:
@Marko What they need to do is put a mini-PCIe / mini-SATA / 1.8" SATA boot SSD in the machine along with the 2.5" hard drive. That wouldn't increase the size of the laptop very much but would dramatically improve overall performance. I keep waiting for a laptop like that.
@Ducman69 Why not just get the 250 GB version, and upgrade yourself? :-)
Very Cool...
A nice ultra-light sporting most of the aesthetic appeal of the Air with none of the (serious) limitations, better performance, and a much lower price point.
Nice, if this is now just light enough, I am buying it for sure.
Why does Engadget never mention the weight of the machine, even when it's clearly stated in the press release. 1.4 kg, or 3.08 pounds, is what instantly makes this better than other machines in its class. The only Core 2010 machine that approaches this weight is the Vaio Z, but that's $1899 and a lot more specced out, admittedly.
@aniym
thanks for the info! good to know its still light. my friend got the msi x340 for $500 and its awesome! sure made me regret getting my vaio carbon fiber z for $3000
@aniym Very nice. I was looking at buying this laptop, or the similarly-sized Toshiba T135D, but this one clearly out-specs it now. Good day for (affordable?) ultraportables with i5.
Another important fact left out in this story is the battery life.
The press release says up to 9 hours.
Looks like a win for MSI, as long as this one isn't too expensive
@Bean I wouldn't trust their battery life estimates. The X340, like this one, came with a 3 or 4-cell battery and only got 3-4 hours of battery life, and that was on a Core 2 Solo.
I hope this is sturdier and better put together than the first pos version to come from MSI! I really do like the design, lets hope they fixed the problems with the other one.
@benny90 They already fixed most of the problems on the second generation X340, now the new X360 and the C2D powered X350 will have the same chassis design, which is based on the second gen X340 chassis.
Wow. Well, Core i5's are announced in MSI X-Slims before Macbooks. Sad, Apple, sad.
Of course, I still can't figure out how to even use 50% of my C2D CPU unless I play 3 flash videos at once or something.
X-Slim X360? Had I not seen the picture of the notebook I would have figured this to be the new Xbox 360 form factor release.
I hope they give us the option of a standard 520M instead of the 520UM. I need proper performance over battery life.
@StubbornMinion I doubt it. The 520M would require greater cooling capacity than what a chassis this slim can support. also it seems that the regular 520m would be overkill in a machine that doesn't have discrete graphics anyway.
@aniym You say that, but last generation HP managed it with the 5310m. They put a non-ulv core 2 in a laptop less than an inch thick. I am seriously hoping for an update to that model.
That said, I also doubt it with this MSI machine. But I wish somebody would do it. I was looking at the new Dell Vostros and they've almost got it: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/09/dell-jazzes-up-vostro-lineup-with-new-look-and-core-2010-process/ .The 520M, discrete graphics (which I don't really insist upon anyway), and fairly lightweight. The only thing is that they don't allow you to remove the optical drive, even though the tech specs suggest that you could. I'd prefer to ditch that and save that much more weight.
So it seems that the only distinctinction here is the weight of the machine. This one is a lot lighter then the Vostro despite including an optical drive, and the same goes for the Vaio Z series. But why is it that only Sony can make a slim, light, full performace notebook? I suspect that if somebody else could do it, it would be cheaper than Sony's effort.
If HP would only update the 5310m already I might just be a happy man.
God, where the hell is the Asus UL30jt?!?!?!
They announced it two months ago, and now it's nowhere to be seen!
:(
And what happened to the X350 that was shown in December? The X340 is no longer available in the US, so the question is whether they're pulling this line from our market.